A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Comparing Heterogeneity in Body Mass Responses Between Low-Carbohydrate and Low-Fat Diets

Abstract

Objective: An important notion in personalized medicine is that there is clinically relevant treatment response heterogeneity. Low-carbohydrate (CHO) and low-fat diets are widely adopted to reduce body mass. To compare individual differences in responses between two dietary interventions, a formal statistical comparison of response variances between study arms in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) is crucial. Methods: The change in variances in RCTs for the body mass responses to low-CHO dietary interventions versus change variances for the low-fat groups (typically considered as the comparator intervention) were compared. A literature search identified relevant RCTs (n = 25; 3,340 participants). The means and SDs of body mass change in low-CHO and low-fat study arms were extracted to calculate the variances of individual responses. These were meta-analyzed in a random-effects model and converted to the SD for individual responses. Results: The pooled SD for individual responses for body mass was 1.4 kg (95% CI: −1.1 to 2.3) with a wide 95% prediction interval of −6.3 to 10.4 kg. Conclusions: Evidence is insufficient to suggest the response heterogeneity to low-CHO diets differs from that observed with low-fat diets.